Sweet Potato: A New Retelling
by Katherine Clearwater
Summary: (Chapter One) Rather UNLIKE any other Ocarina of Time retelling, this fanfic has a new approach to EVERYTHING! Just READ it to see what I mean! I guarantee you'll be surprised. Readers unfamiliar with Zelda are welcome!


::..:. Sweet Potato: A New Retelling of Ocarina of Time .:..::  
Story by Akira Himekawa and Nintendo  
Retold in novelized format by Kelley Christensen  
  
***  
  
::..:. Random Junk Before the Story So We Get Over It .:..::  
  
(Ratings: Ehm, I'd say...PG-13...maybe...yes, about...just to be safe. And then comes along the genre: I'd say it's Action/Adventure / Romance (!). Yes, folks. There IS a romance going on between Link and Zelda! But the question is: Will they EVER kiss?!!)  
  
(Full Summary: For those of you unfamiliar with the Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time is supposedly the first game in the chronological order of the games, if there is one. Anyways, in Ocarina of Time, Link, a young Kokiri growing up in the Lost Woods, is suddenly thrown out into the outside world and is instructed to find the "Princess of Destiny". This is Princess Zelda, and from the moment they meet, Link is thrust into danger and adventure. He is constantly on the move, trying to gather the three spiritual stones so that together, he and Zelda can protect the Door of Time by hiding the stones and a royal heirloom, the Ocarina of Time, from an evil king. But when Link finally collects all the stones, he finds that his true destiny still has yet to be fulfilled...)  
  
(Side Note: Based on the Manga version of Ocarina of Time, this retelling is A LOT different from other retellings by far. I highly recommend you read the Manga, as you know how some things simply aren't the same as the other.)  
  
(Author's Note: Yo, 'sup? Heh, wanted to say that. Um, yes this, this title you see here *points upwards*, this "Sweet Potato" thing wasn't out of my looniness. It's actually another name for an ocarina, and yes, they *do* exist out there ^_^. No, forgive me, you *think* you know, but you're just ignorant ^.~. You must be wondering now, that lately all the Ocarina of Time fanfics have been running out of gas. Even the game gets a bit dull in storyline [ECK! No WAY shall I allow myself to insult a ZELDA GAME like this! It is taboo!]. Eh...anyways, the Manga version really spiced it up, so I decided to write this fanfic because I wanted to and didn't know how else to spend my time O_O. Plus, I wanted to kick up Fanfiction.net in the booty ^_~. So here ya go, and enjoy and review and whatnot!)  
  
(Tip-For-The-Day: If you review other people's stories, then you will get more reviews for YOUR stories!!)  
  
© The Zelda Crew, 1996 (The kids at Nintendo, Akira Himekawa...)  
  
© Kelley Christensen, 2003 (But the story idea isn't mine!)  
  
(OKAY!! ENOUGH SAID! Why don't we BEGIN THE STORY ALREADY?)  
  
***  
  
~ The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ~  
  
An infantile scream was wrenched from a tiny throat and out into the turbulent air. It sang in pitch and volume as the shriek was carried by the wind and rain like tempestuous waves. It crashed and sprayed with the cracks of lightning and thunder, galloped like the horse against the wind, sweat mixed with rain as it carried its mortally wounded rider and little passenger along the muddied highway.  
  
The baby was cold. Even with the thin, water-soaked blanket swaddled around him, even with the gentle pressure of being held tightly against his mother's bosom, he wailed his impossibly strong, enduring cry. She was careful not to drop the baby, but still, it was not an easy task even for an experienced rider like herself. She steered with one hand, the reigns held uneasily over the baby's wet head. With each pace, the horse juggled like a carousel on overdrive. Clutching determinedly harder, the rider narrowed her eyes, whether it was because of shrill resolve, of the rain whipping into her eyes, or to wink away the clouds of pain gathering at the tips of her eyes.  
  
This storm was not just another tempest. Lightning cracked with unnatural sharpness and preciseness, the following roar deafened the ears, drowning all other sound. The black clouds were low to the ground; they moved like warriors in battle, jostling against each other, dashing off to spear another. This storm was sent by the gods - goddesses, to be correct. They had been angry with how the people treated one another as of late. Another war, another blood shed, and other souls to be sent to the Sacred Realm, heaven. They were simply displeased, and now this storm.  
  
Thunder boomed again after another high explosion of lightning, just before the mount crashed into the trees, twigs and branches scratching and pulling, whispers rattling the leaves. Once they entered the forest, it became silent; the unsettled storm outside was hushed. Ancient trees towered over them, their canopies raking the churning, black sky, roofing them from rain and what little light there had been from the seeming eternal darkness of the weather. It was unsettling, but they went on.  
  
Once they went so far, however, the steed refused to move. The rider desperately kicked and kicked, urging it to move, but to no avail. She softly coaxed, feebly pulled, she did everything in her power - nothing worked. Her horse stood frozen, neither frightened nor cautious but impassive, as if not daring to mark a hoof into sacred earth. So she continued on foot, pressing her child to her chest, uncomfortable, weak.  
  
After hours of walking in circles, hopelessly lost, the atmosphere totally changed. The air became fragrant, beautiful, breathable, that of wildflowers. There was no presence of a storm - the sky was a faultless deep blue. Nocturnal insects sang in the warmth, the ode to the night. The magic was so thick here that you could see it move in clouds, sparkling in the moonlight, dancing around like a flock of birds. And there were fairies.  
  
Taking another step, the trees unfolded and a clearing spread out before her. Another step, bending the soft blades, and the haze of magic lifted slightly, revealing an awesome, giant shadow in the center of the meadow. After a few slow paces, the woman collapsed on the ground, pressing her baby close. The infant had silenced, awed by the sudden strange environment. Crawling, agonizingly slow, the lady limped her way towards the silhouette, all the while looming darker on the edge of her brow. The fairies were near, swirling around her, flying erratically. They escorted her to the tree. The largest tree she had ever seen in her short life.  
  
By dawn, the woman was pressed into sweet-smelling grass, death but a pleasant sleep. But the child lay beside her, still with a breath or two in him, warm and alive. This child...  
  
::..:. Part One: Child of the Woods .:..::  
  
Chapter One: Plight of the Deku Tree  
  
The Lost Woods was said to have sprung out of sorrow after Farore's tears spilled from the heavens. The trees rose from the ground fully-grown, and Mist drew itself out of the air. The woods were a place of enchantment and misery since its birth. It was also common knowledge that the green goddess descended to one single tree and poured all her sadness, her grief, her essence, into its bark. This tree became a sacred Guardian of the Forest, and the meadow in which it anchored its roots in became the Kokiri Forest.  
  
For a thousand years, the meadow in which the Deku Tree resided remained empty. Then it thought, in the vast depths of its mind, that it should have company. So one season, it budded white blossoms on its branches, and when the flowers opened up, they fluttered off of the wood and became the Kokiri Fairies. They were able to wander the woods on their own, able to think independently, rather unlike their original cousins who were controlled in thought by the Great Fairies of the Fountains.  
  
The fairies were pleasant companions at first - they amused the Deku Tree in their playful antics and tiny charms, but after a while, the fairies became bored. There was nothing else to do other than to fly around the meadow all day long, so the fairies got to mischief. They messed around with the Lost Woods, placing spells and charms and enchantments, playing around with the forests, layering magic upon older magic so that soon, travelers avoided the Lost Woods at any cost.  
  
After a while, the Deku Tree became exhausted by the fairies' tricks, having to correct them again and again. It decided to create one more companion: the Kokiri Tribe. They sprang out of the cracks in its roots and were clothed of the moss hanging from its branches. They could think for themselves, but unlike the immortal fairies, they needed guidance. The fairies, thrilled with a new sense of responsibility, each accompanied a Kokiri child and became one with them, so that soon, all Kokiri had their own personal fairy that only they could communicate with. The fairies were a part of the Kokiri and followed them wherever they went, just as if they were a part of them. And so the Deku Tree solved his problems, except for one thing. The Lost Woods forever would be chaotic in its layout, impossible to be mapped, as the deceptive magic changed its layout continually. This magic could not be undone.  
  
And so the story became just that: a story. It was a favorite of the Kokiri, and the Deku Tree told it often.  
  
But whenever it got to the part where the fairies became a part of the Kokiri, one particularly nasty boy, whose name was Mido, would say:  
  
"The Kokiri are one with the fairies, so if a Kokiri doesn't have a fairy, than he's one-half!" He would direct this to one boy. This boy, strangely, did not have a fairy partner.  
  
The Deku Tree would reprimand him for this insult, but the fact remained - why didn't Link have a fairy like everyone else?  
  
Everybody wondered so - how could a Kokiri not have a fairy? Why would no fairy come to him? Or did the Great Deku Tree withhold a fairy from the Kokiri boy? Was it something he did? What was wrong with him? Everyone seemed to agree by mutual consensus that Link was a decent kid - he was strong-hearted, brave, and nice. He stood up for what he believed in, and he was one of the only Kokiri who dared talk back to Mido. People respected and admired him for this, and so when Link was being attacked by Mido, they felt guilty that they couldn't do anything.  
  
---  
  
"Once upon a time, a long time, mind you...  
  
"There was no Hyrule. Hyrule did not exist. Instead was a mass of swirling cloud and chaos. Then, the three great, Golden Goddesses descended as if from nowhere and unto that chaos...  
  
"One was Din, Goddess of Power, who created the red earth with her fiery hands. She sculpted the rock and created the valleys and mountains, the basins and mounds. But even with her carvings of earth, there still remained chaos.  
  
"The second goddess, the Goddess of Wisdom who was Nayru, remedied that and poured all her wisdom into the world, creating order. The skies cleared, and the sun shone for the first time.  
  
"And the last goddess was..."  
  
"WEEE!!"  
  
Link soared downwards from his perch, soaking up in the thrill of the fall, of the danger that went with it. It was such a good feeling; it made living in the forest just a bit more bearable. Because nothing HAPPENED in the Kokiri Forest - you would have to venture into the Lost Woods to find adventure if you wanted it, and oftentimes the adventure was only to find your way back home before dark. But that was a no-brainer for the Kokiri: all you had to do was try to get lost and you'd be taken back to the entrance. The Deku Tree made sure of that.  
  
As the ground came rushing up to meet him, Link saw what lay ahead of him, right where he was about to land.  
  
"Watch out! I'm gonna squish you!" he yelled as he tried to twist away. But instead, he landed right on top of the kid's head. Jumping off again, he thudded to the ground and ran off, saying, "Whoops, sorry! Can't stop! The Great Deku Tree's story is starting!"  
  
As he ran, Link suddenly felt something grab his shirt from behind and yank him backwards...or, it felt like it, since he had been running at full tilt, so perhaps the hand just held him back. Whatever it was, Link spun around to face Mido and his friends: two, tagalongs hoping to pick a fight and look powerful in the process.  
  
'Mido looks really mad,' Link thought. 'He looks a bit beat up, too...' Suddenly, realization dawned on him and Link tried his best to put on an innocent-yet-concerned face.  
  
"So, Link," Mido snarled with irritation. "You're going to the Great Deku Tree's story? I think you'll have to get past us first."  
  
"Yep!" added a particularly chubby boy. The other boy, a skinny one, with a long face, sneered at him  
  
Link saw trouble brewing, and he quickly cast off his friendly attitude. "Whatever, Mido! I'll go anywhere I want!"  
  
The skinny boy snickered. "No, you won't!"  
  
Mido stepped menacingly forward, red hair flaming, freckles popping. "Look, Link, I don't think you seem to understand. Let me make it clear for you: I'm the boss of the Kokiri. And I say a half-person like you is too childish to listen to one of the Great Deku Tree's stories!"  
  
"Child!" taunted the fat boy.  
  
Link felt a hot knot of anger rise into his throat. "This has nothing to do with anything! Outta the way!" He walked determinedly through them, intending to march off and escape, but Mido was there.  
  
"If you want to pass," he mocked, giving him the lip, "get your own fairy first."  
  
That struck a chord in Link. Crying in battle rage, he bowled Mido over and tackled him, attempting to punch his brains out. Underneath, Mido was putting up a brave fight, trying to block any fist aimed for his face and at the same time direct his blows to Link's groin. They kicked and tore at each other's hair, snarling while Mido's pals cheered and taunted, egging Link on with teasing like "fairy-less" or "half-person".  
  
When Link was fairly satisfied that he had beaten the poop out of his arch- nemesis, he sat on top of him and crowed, "Well, the next time you call me a half-person -"  
  
But Mido gathered up the strength to kick him off and into the pond before Link was able to finish his lecture. He sighed with relief. He could breathe again.  
  
Mido got up and joined his cronies. "See-ya, half-person!" called out the long face. "The fairies are a part of us, see?" said the large one. They turned to leave, congratulating themselves.  
  
Link spluttered. Water ran through his dripping hair and slid into his eyes. "B-but that's not fair!" he cried out. It wasn't fair that he didn't have a fairy. It wasn't his fault - was it? Link looked up to see Mido hovering over him, arms crossed smugly.  
  
"What's not fair about it?" he said. "Fairies are a part of the Kokiri. Belladonna's my equal. Where's your equal?"  
  
Suddenly the ground shook and a roaring voice that seemed to be part of the earth growled, "Hey! Just WHAT are you doing?!"  
  
Link looked up. Mido and his friends turned around. A few dozen yards away was the terrible, gigantic face of the Deku Tree. His usually gentle features were now distorted into that of disappointment and anger. The dreadful appearance of this immortal forest spirit was enough to scare off most fully-grown soldiers. Mido stood frozen in astonishment, never before had he been so careless as to do something awful to Link while the Great Deku Tree was present. It was horrible.  
  
"Oh no! We're been caught!" The skinny and the rolly scurried off, as Mido backed off in awe. Then he turned as a last aside to Link. He made a face and sneered. "Humph. Fairy-less!" Then he was off to catch up with the others.  
  
Link watched them run off and sighed deeply. It wasn't fair...that he didn't have a fairy. He pushed himself out of the water and climbed the Deku Tree's roots. Why hadn't he been chosen as a partner to a fairy? Was he not good enough? He sat down next to the Deku Tree's bark and leaned against it.  
  
"Cheer up, Link," said the Deku Tree. "Never mind what Mido says. You know he just wants to pick a fight."  
  
Link sighed. The questions welled up in his mind and overflowed, trickling into small tears at the corners of his eyes. He turned to look up at the Great Deku Tree, his distress apparent as he said, "Great Deku Tree, why am I so different from everyone else? Sometimes, I don't remember the things that the other kids talk about; it was as if I was never there when it happened. And why don't I have a fairy? Everyone else has had one since I could remember."  
  
Link quickly looked away to hide his face, ashamed at his state. The Deku Tree rumbled underneath him, soothing. "When the time comes," it said, "I will tell you."  
  
Link blinked hard and heaved a final sigh. "I know..."  
  
Suddenly, Link heard a cheerful voice shout up to him: "Link!"  
  
Quickly he wiped away at his eyes and shouted back: "Saria!" Link looked genuinely pleased with the distraction, and he hopped off of the Deku Tree. Saria came running up to him, smiling and waving.  
  
Saria was a pretty Kokiri girl whose favorite color was green. Everything about her was green: her eyes, her clothes...even her hair. She would rub wild stalwort leaves on her short hair, which produced a natural green dye, and once she even asked her fairy, Tlat, if he could change colors. Unfortunately the answer was a flat no, and unfortunately Tlat was bitter to her all week for asking such a question. Or so Link was told by Saria.  
  
Link said, "Have you got good timing or what! I've got something I want to show you!"  
  
"What is it?" Saria asked, who had now reached Link.  
  
Link rummaged inside his tunic, which was really only a large shirt, and drew it out proudly. "Tada! I made it!"  
  
Saria stared at it and screwed up her face in bewilderment. It was a slingshot. "But what is it for...?" she puzzled.  
  
"Well..." said Link. He loaded a pebble into his slingshot and drew it expertly. "That's so I can knock the fruit out of tree branches that are too high to reach! And so? It's just cool!" He released his grip, and the pebble went zipping into the air, hitting a rupee fruit dead center, causing it to go tumbling down.  
  
"Wow!" exclaimed Saria. "Let me try!"  
  
"Humph." Nearby, concealed within the bushes, Mido and his friend Moruge, the boy with the long face and scrawny build, lay spying on the two little Kokiri. Mido's face was contorted into rage.  
  
"That little punk," he spat out. "Being all lovey-dovey with Saria..."  
  
"Lucky," Moruge muttered.  
  
Suddenly, an acorn zoomed in the air and hit Mido square between the eyes. A few feet away, Saria looked expectantly around to see where the acorn had landed, then turned disappointedly to Link. Back in the bushes, Moruge and Mido's fairy, Belladonna, hovered around Mido, waiting anxiously for him to stop swearing.  
  
"Oh, Link," Saria said wistfully, "you're so wonderful to think up these things!"  
  
Rather than beaming at the praise, Link frowned at the ground and twanged the slingshot's string violently. He said, "I guess it's because I'm different, that I'm strange." He got up off the tree stump and ground his foot in the dirt. "Maybe that's why no fairy will ever come to me."  
  
Saria made a sound of protest. "Link, you know that's not true!" He shot up a look at her. "Okay...well...even so, you're still my very best friend, right?"  
  
Link looked at her with a sad little smile. "Yep."  
  
Saria rose up with a bright cheerfulness. "Friends till the end, then, right?" She took out her fairy ocarina and held it out to show Link. "Why don't you get rid of that sad face and we can dance around again? You know, that song you like so much?" She placed her lips onto the mouthpiece and began to play the first few notes of the song. She looked up at Link, and saw that he was smiling crazily. She snorted a bit into her ocarina, but she kept playing. Link was dancing around like a flapping Cucco, hopping on one foot to the other, waving his arms. Saria did a more subtle dance as she waved back and forth, moving her fingers about the ocarina, piping out cheery notes.  
  
And so they kept up with it till the sun began to slide down the sky and the shadows became longer. Saria then put away her ocarina and said to Link, "It's almost dinnertime. I hear tonight we're having baba root salad with pickles."  
  
Link frowned. "But I don't like pickles."  
  
Saria laughed. "How can you not like pickles? Everyone else..." she stopped suddenly. It wouldn't be wise to finish the sentence, as she seemed to be treading on a delicate subject. Link was already finishing it in his head and she saw him slump down to watch the ripples move smoothly across the waterfall pond. Cautiously, Saria sat next to him and stared out at the setting sun, burning red with colors.  
  
Suddenly, Link broke the tranquil silence by voicing out his thoughts. "You know Saria," he said, "I've been having this same dream lately, and I don't know what it means."  
  
He turned to Saria to see if she was listening. "Yes?" she asked.  
  
Link continued. "Well, in this dream, the sky becomes pitch black. I walk around for a while; then when I turn back around, this huge house made out of stones appears, and it's so tall, I can barely see the top..."  
  
"Wait," interrupted Saria, "could this be a 'castle'?"  
  
"Hm? What is a 'castle'? Is it something deep in the forest?" To himself, Link found it strange. How could he dream things that he had never heard of before?  
  
"Well, the Great Deku Tree told me that they exist somewhere far off, far away from the Kokiri Forest and across the plains. It is said that the world is very, very big and that there are many lands in it..." Saria broke off to silence, pondering on the things she had just said.  
  
Link stood up. "The world?" He glanced up at the fading sky, which was slowly being replaced by the twilit stars encompassed in ebony blue.  
  
'What is this "wide world"?' he thought. The stars twinkled in the shimmering dusk, winked at him as if they were holding in a secret. 'Surely there is something outside of the forest that I don't know of yet...'  
  
---  
  
The forest was silent in nocturnal sleep. The shimmering Mist that flittered and hung over the trees, draped around their branches, was all but beautiful in the light of the moon. Like milk sparkled with drops of honey, it flowed with an ancient grace, as forest magic in solid form. This was the heart of the forest, where all life was created, and where it was said that Farore touched the ground as she was sending her energy to create all the life forms that would uphold her sister's law. It was a powerful, sacred place, one in which strange and unexpected things would happen now and then. Tonight, the Mist was still. Nothing wonderful or miraculous would happen on this night.  
  
A shiver swept through the tree branches and the leaves shuddered and grated against each other. The wind stirred, and the mist billowed like laundry hung out to dry. Something foreign was about to enter the forest, and the wind was fleeing before it.  
  
A strong gust sent a shudder through the mist, rippled it erratically. Then, like molasses, an eerie black cloud dripped into the sacred clearing. It oozed between the trees like evil sap, like a demon creeping in. It ate away at the life of the forest, turning the bark ash gray, changing the leaves' colors to brown and orange. As it swam over the pure Mist, it devoured it mercilessly as it swept on to other parts of the forest.  
  
The leaves fell sadly as the wind howled and mourned for the world.  
  
---  
  
In the peaceful Kokiri Forest, Link lay in his bed, ruminating over things in his head before he drifted off to sleep.  
  
'I wonder,' he thought, 'if the Great Deku Tree would forgive me if I told him I wanted to leave the forest...'  
  
The wind outside blew past his door, and a single, dried leaf alighted in the middle of the doorway.  
  
'Hmm...' he thought sleepily. 'Guess I...better...not...' He shut his eyes and fell asleep, and soon he was dreaming, dreaming that same dream he had dreamed for the last few nights...  
  
---  
  
A black fog crept over the sleeping Kokiri Forest, slithering towards the Deku Tree's meadow. A soft, dry cackle, raspy as a cricket's voice, was accompanied by a clicking of what seemed to be giant claws. The cloud eased into the meadow, blocking out the stars, fading everything to black. Suddenly, out of the dark, an eerie lamp was turned on. But it was not a lamp: a huge, yellow eye, lamp-like, with a red, malignant pupil. A giant insect, a Cyclops of a beetle, shuttled over to where the Deku Tree, Guardian of the Forest, stood rooted tall and proud for ages untold.  
  
When the Deku Tree spied the intruder, it called out, "Who are you that creeps into this forest with an evil breath at your tail?! The Deku Tree will not forgive those who are allies with those who've become evil!"  
  
The giant eye flashed. The jointed body with its hard, exoskeleton leaped with a spider-like grace onto the giant Deku Tree's bark. Cackling, it said, "Deku Tree! A tree cannot move. It is a sad being..." With that, it began to make its decent into the bark, drilling a hole out of the wood. The Deku Tree bellowed in anger and called out to the Mist, the Spirit of the Wood, the magic and power of the Deku Tree. But when it reached out with its mind, stretched out with its arms of power, it felt barely a trickle of what was left of the Mist. Devastated, the Deku Tree was left helpless as the parasite burrowed deeper into its trunk.  
  
A fairy watched on in horror as she witnessed the attack on the Great Deku Tree. She could do nothing until the offender was buried deeply in the heart of the tree, then she fluttered out of her hiding place near a bush and sped off to the Deku Tree, aghast.  
  
"Great Deku Tree? Great Deku Tree, hold on!"  
  
The Deku Tree turned its sad eyes towards the fairy. "Navi...is it? Oh Navi... Just now, an evil creature has entered inside me..." The earth shuddered as its roots shifted. "I'm losing...my freedom..."  
  
The fairy Navi flapped her wings in alarm. "Great Deku Tree! What should I do?!"  
  
The ground quaked again as the Deku Tree haltingly responded, "The forest is in danger... Go to the fairy-less child...and bring him here. Fly, Navi!"  
  
---  
  
"You really think this is gonna work?" asked Moruge.  
  
"Yeah," added a skeptical Parapa, the round kid.  
  
Mido drew out his chest. "You guys have no faith!" He stood up on a table and said, "I'll use this saw to make a hole next to Link's bed. Then, when he gets up in the morning..."  
  
The three rolled over in laughter, and Mido held up the saw triumphantly. He was warmly issued out of his house and out into the night air. Stealthy as a snake, Mido crossed the clearing to Link's house, brushing past dead leaves on the ground, which crinkled and cracked.  
  
When he reached the ladder leading up to Link's house, he climbed up on the reverse side, leading him up to a ceiling of wooden boards. This was the floor to Link's house. He began to saw away madly.  
  
---  
  
"Link! Link!"  
  
An orb of pale blue light shimmered in front of Link's eyes as he opened them a crack, then closed them back again.  
  
Navi sighed with frustration. "WAKE UP, Link! Get up RIGHT NOW!!"  
  
Link bolted upwards and at once was blinded by the fierce intensity of the fairy light in front of him.  
  
"Agh!" Link rubbed his eyes to clear them, then he looked again. There could be no mistake. "Huh?"  
  
"I'm Navi," said the beautiful-fairy-from-heaven. "The Great Deku Tree sent me."  
  
Link stared at the radiance, at the beautifully shaped wings. So delicate... 'A...a fairy?!' he thought. 'F...'  
  
"FINALLY!!" he screamed in happiness. "FINALLY A FAIRY HAS COME TO ME!!" He made a swipe to grab her and hug her, but Navi screamed, "Eek! Don't catch me!"  
  
They hung in awkward silence for a moment, both of them staring at each other. Then, Link decided, "Alright! Now I'm gonna show this to Mido!" He made his way for the door, marching with a smug glee.  
  
"No!" protested Navi. "There's no time for that!"  
  
As Link walked outside, with the ladder a mere foot away, he found himself falling though a hole and on top of something hard and squishy. "Oof!" it said as the air was knocked out of it.  
  
Link looked down and saw Mido. "Oh, Mido. What are you doing here?"  
  
Mido grunted. "Very important business. Now get off." He kicked Link away and dusted himself.  
  
Suddenly, a black vapor filled the air. Link coughed and spluttered. He fell to the ground and choked. Whatever this was, it was filling his lungs, and each time he took a breath, more of the stuff came in. He had never felt so sick in his life, but as suddenly as it came, it went, and as the cloud drifted along, the wisps in his lungs were drawn out after it, leaving Link breathless, gasping for air. As he recovered, his gaze fell to the ground, where the grass had been growing. It suddenly dried up before his eyes.  
  
"The grass is withering!" he said.  
  
Mido looked around. "The trees are, too!" he gasped. "This has never happened before!"  
  
Navi waved around to get their attention. "It's because something evil has entered the forest! The Great Deku Tree is in trouble." Turning to Link, she said, "Link, let's go!"  
  
They ran off for the Deku Tree's meadow. Mido, who was left behind, called, "Hey! Wait up!" He ran after them.  
  
As they reached the meadow, they knew something wasn't right. The Deku Tree was still. Shadows were cast about its face. And a deathly fog was wreathed around its crown of leaves. The ground shuddered, and an eerie noise came from within the Deku Tree. 


End file.
